R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Ludhiana
Singapore board: The Singapore Tourism Board will hold a two-day festival beginning April 13 here.During the festival, a Singapore lion dance will be performed to the beat of bhangra. Various games and spot contests would be held, a press note issued said.

NAWANSHAHR 
College function: The local KC College of Engineering organised its annual prize distribution function here on Saturday. Mr Prem Gandhi, chairman, college management committee, who presided, gave away prizes to the meritorious students. The students presented a cultural programme on the occasion.

Protest: On a call given by the Punjab State Pharmacist Association, employees of the district Health Department wore black badges while performing Pulse Polio duty here on Monday to protest against the move to privatise health services.

SANGRUR
Seminar: The Sunam Rotary Club organised a seminar on "Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan" at Government Senior Secondary School for Boys, Sunam, on Saturday to create awareness among the masses about the facilities available to Scheduled Caste students regarding books and scholarships in government schools. Dr Rakesh Aggarwal, project chairman of the club, said the club also distributed notebooks, charts, slates and other writing material among students of Government Primary School on the same premises.

SANGRUR 
Bank branches honoured : The Malwa Gramin Bank organised a function to honour representatives of 14 branches of the bank here on Saturday. The branches are located in Sangrur, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts. Mr Sebastian Chacko, General Manager, State Bank of Patiala, was the chief guest. The branches which were honoured included Gowara, Thulliwal, Majhi, Sangrur, Arno, Dhilwan, Bhindran, Patiala and Khanal Kalan. Mr N.K. Bansal, Chairman of the Malwa Gramin Bank; Mr B. Shree Kumar, DGM, Regional Rural Banks; Mr Anil Kumar, AGM, NABARD, Sangrur; Mr P.C. Garg, General Manager of the Malwa Gramin Bank; and Mr Pali Ram Bansal, general secretary, Malwa Gramin Bank Officers Association, spoke on the occasion.

HARYANA

KAITHAL
Extortion threats: To check the menace of extortion threats and seek public cooperation to control the problem, a peace committee comprising representatives of different walks of life has been formed. Giving this information the S.P. Mr Navdeep Singh Virk said that the members of the committee will inform the police about any extortion threat received by any person and police will act swiftly to nab the person issuing threats. He said that the decision to constitute such committee has been taken because of hesitation on the part of individual victims to inform police. Mr Virk said that police has arrested two smugglers and recovered 400 gm charas from Ram Kala and 500 gm poppy husk from Baksheesh of local ward No 11. They have been booked under various sections of NDPS Act. 

Super-speciality hospital: A spacious super-speciality hospital will be constructed in Kaithal town soon. HUDA has transferred 15.5 acres land to Haryana Health Department in Sector 18 of HUDA here. This was disclosed by Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, President, All-India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress and local MLA after laying the foundation stone of new municipal council complex at Pehowa Chowk here. This complex in 25500 sq feet area will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.74 crore and it will comprise a spacious basement for the parking of vehicles, 29 big show rooms at the ground floor and 36 shops at first floor . There is proposal to construct municipal council office at the second floor.

Boycott ends: Advocates in the district courts here on Saturday ended their boycott of the court of Mr Subhash Goel ADJ, following an appeal made by Mr Justice Amar Datt, Judge, Panjab and Haryana High Court. The advocates resorted to boycott of court of ADJ on Tuesday last, following a complaint made by an advocate that he was insulted by the Judge.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
BJP chief to address rally: The national president of the BJP, Mr Rajnath Singh, will address a rally of party activists from Bilaspur, Hamirpur, and Una here on April 28. This was stated by former Health Minister Jagatprakash Nadda while addressing mediapersons here on Sunday.

CHAMBA
Youth ends life: A youth, Ajit Kumar (40) committed suicide by hanging himself with a “dupatta” at his house here on Monday morning, police sources said. The police has registered a case in this connection.

MANDI
Bail in rape case: Though 20-year-old rape victim is yet to come out of the trauma, the district court on Monday granted the accused anticipatory bail till April 13. Sources said the accused, Ramesh, a daily-wage worker at the Ayurverdic Kendra, Jogindernagar, would be questioned till the case comes up for hearing on April 13.

SUNDERNAGAR
Plea to govt: The Sundernagar unit of the Himachal Tent Dealer's Welfare Organisation has urged the Union and state government to abolish service tax levied on tent dealers. This resolution was unanimously passed at a meeting of the unit here on Sunday which was attended by 50 tent dealers.